Assessing the quality of cause of death data in six high-income countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
Int J Public Health
; 65(1): 17-28, 2020 Jan.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31932856
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To assess the policy utility of national cause of death (COD) data of six high-income countries with highly developed health information systems.METHODS:
National COD data sets from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan and Switzerland for 2015 or 2016 were assessed by applying the ANACONDA software tool. Levels, patterns and distributions of unusable and insufficiently specified "garbage" codes were analysed.RESULTS:
The average proportion of unusable COD was 18% across the six countries, ranging from 14% in Australia and Canada to 25% in Japan. Insufficiently specified codes accounted for a further 8% of deaths, on average, varying from 6% in Switzerland to 11% in Japan. The most commonly used garbage codes were Other ill-defined and unspecified deaths (R99), Heart failure (I50.9) and Senility (R54).CONCLUSIONS:
COD certification errors are common, even in countries with very advanced health information systems, greatly reducing the policy value of mortality data. All countries should routinely provide certification training for hospital interns and raise awareness among doctors of their public health responsibility to certify deaths correctly and usefully for public health policy.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Developed Countries
/
Data Collection
/
Mortality
/
Cause of Death
/
Data Accuracy
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
/
Asia
/
Europa
/
Oceania
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Public Health
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: